


Slowly, Slowly, (Arthur Fleck x Reader)

by orphan_account



Category: Arthur Fleck - Fandom, Joker (2019), Joker (Film), Joker - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:08:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22037554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Some meet cute Arthur fluff
Relationships: Arthur Fleck/Joker, Arthur Fleck/Original Character(s), Arthur Fleck/Reader, Arthur Fleck/You
Comments: 2
Kudos: 65





	Slowly, Slowly, (Arthur Fleck x Reader)

The train screeched to a halt. Your hair swung around your face as it barreled past you. You stood at the platform alone. The 15th street stop was usually quiet but at this late hour it was especially lonesome.

The subway car was empty…almost. You nearly overlooked the man sitting in the corner. He was writing in a well-loved journal. A lefty, you noted. You sat at the opposite end, ready to contemplate your day as you watched your reflection staring back at you from the black emptiness.

But the man kept drawing your attention. His hair pushed back, his high cheekbones and long nose played handsomely together on his face. Full eyelashes rested softly on his cheeks as he looked down at his writing. He smiled to himself, and oh, he was beautiful.

At first you thought he didn’t notice you. Your eyes kept wandering back to him. The rocking of the train and the long day lulled you into a dreamy state. Just you and the man on the train. You imagined his life, who he was, constantly contradicting yourself as you noticed a new detail. Worn out but well taken care of shoes. A missing button on his cardigan. Freshly pressed pants.

He did notice you though. After a few sneaked glances you made eye contact. _Green eyes_ , you thought to yourself surprised. He watched you for a long time, longer than you would have if you had caught a stranger staring at you. He looked you up and down and then smiled. Shaking his head, he went back to writing and that was that.

This little play went on for a week. He would be sitting there in the corner, and you would watch from the other end. Sometimes other people would be in the car too, but somehow you always ended up together. Funny how that works out.

Finally, you decided to say something. It was late, later than usual. Your feet were killing from a long day, and you wanted desperately to be in bed. But you also wanted to break that pattern of your shitty everyday life. And the mystery man felt like the perfect thing.

“What are the chances?” You ask, leaning the back of your head against the window, facing him.

He looked up slowly. Eyes big, like he was surprised that you were there.

“What?” He asked, closing his notebook.

“I said, ‘what are the chances?’ You know that we would be on the same train over and over?”

He licked his lips and looked around, doing a little “me?” bit. You got up and moved cautiously against the jerking train to sit in front of him.

“Oh right, I saw you the other day.” He said holding the notebook close to his chest.

You offered him your hand across the aisle and introduced yourself.

He lightly laughed and shook your hand. His skin was warm and surprisingly soft. “I’m Arthur.” He seemed shy about it, blushing at the ground.

“Cute name.” You flirted, enjoying the color of pink his face turned.

“Yeah but I’m thinking of picking a new one.” He looked up at you, eyebrows raised.

“Oh? Why’s that?”

He thumbed through his journal before answering. “I’m a standup comedian, but I don’t think my career is going anywhere because of my name. Arthur Fleck? That’s not catchy.”

“Ah, I see.” You threw out a few possible names, each time getting more and more lewd. “Dick Johnson? No! Harry Johnson?” Arthur laughed; eyes bright. You heart burst at the sound of his slightly musical laughter filling the train car.

___

Somehow managing to find each other every night, or every other night, you and Arthur became friends. Slowly, slowly he became more comfortable around you, reading small excerpts from his journal. Once he let you write down an interesting thought and observation too. Arthur watched you scribble across the page somehow fascinated by the words that appeared under your hand.

“Oh, I have a good one.” You said, laughing as you wrote down a comical scene you had watched the day before as a cop attempted and failed to apprehend two teenagers. Arthur reached out and smudged the fresh ink. “You didn’t like it?” You fake pouted at him.

“No, no. I liked it. I just wanted to see if it was real.” Arthur said quietly, he rubbed the ink between his fingers smearing it down his thumb.

“You’re funny, of course, it’s real!” But you think that maybe you didn’t understand what he meant. He looked at you differently after that and shut down. Leaning away from you Arthur frowned at the ground. The rest of the ride was silent.

The next time you saw him, Arthur showed you the smudged writing. Underneath he had attempted to rewrite the story, his messy handwriting jumping out of the lined paper and rolling down the page.

“See, I fixed it.” Arthur’s green eyes watch you as you reverently read the presented page.

“Somehow it’s funnier than what I originally wrote.” You joke, nudging him with your shoulder. “Is that going to make the cut for your tight ten, Ben Dover?”

“It just might.” You and Arthur smiled sweetly at each other, and you felt passionate tension grow between you.

“Arthur, I think we should—” the train doors rolled opened and two men in business suits walked on. You both exchanged an annoyed glance at the interruption. Even though it was public transportation, you always felt like it was just you and Arthur in your own private space.

One of the men looked over at you. “Hey! Does this train go downtown?”

Arthur’s eyes opened wide and looked panicked at you and the other man for a moment.

“No, you gotta get off at the next stop and transfer to the other line.”

Arthur stared at you for a long time. “I didn’t know for sure.” He said to himself.

“Didn’t know what for sure? About the train?”

“No. I didn’t know if you were really here.” You blinked at Arthur a few times. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“What do you mean?” You asked, unsure of what else to say.

Arthur took a deep breath and cleared his throat. A short laugh bubbled out of him and he tried to push it down.

“What I mean is, I didn’t know if we were really talking all this time. Sometimes I don’t know if I really exist. And sometimes I don’t know if other people really exist. I didn’t know for sure if you were real or not. But now I know for sure.”

“Oh…” Trailing off, you sat quietly trying to process, and to think of the right thing to say. Reaching your hand out, you gently hold his wrist, running the palm of your hand up his arm. “Does this help?”

Arthur turned and looked at you, eyes watery. He smiled big, the tears rolling down his face. “Yes.” He whispered.

You bit your lip and frowned, hoping that what you were about to do would be okay.

“And does this?” You leaned forward and tenderly kissed him. His soft lips gently brushed against yours.

“Yes.”


End file.
